Ep 74 | How to Stay Positive in the Face of Adversity with Angie Carlson

Kim Strobel 00:04 

Hi everyone. In today's episode on the she finds joy podcast, I'm actually going to be interviewing one of my high school classmates. Her name is Angie Carlson. And she grew up in the same small town that I did here in tell City, Indiana. And she went to college and got her medical office assisting degree. And after college, she joined the military. And she says it was one of the best decisions that she made, she spent 11 years in the Air Force before she got medical retirement. Now, the thing that I really love about Angie as I've kept in contact with her via Facebook is she also is someone who suffers from Ms. And this has greatly affected her life. But she is still one of the most positive people that I've ever met, even though she has a lot of hardships in her life. And so I reached out to Angie, because I wanted to know, how does she keep her mind? So positive, how does she stay in the beingness of happiness, when she's very limited to what she can do because of her Ms. And when I say Ms, I mean multiple sclerosis, which is an auto immune disease. And what happens is your immune system from what I understand begins to mistakenly attack healthy cells. And in people with MS the immune system attack cells in the myelin, which is like this protective sheath that surrounds the nerves in the brain and the spinal cord. And that's why so many of them lose their ability to walk. And so Angie is going to talk to us about this. But what I'm most interested in this episode is getting into Angie's brain, and seeing how she enables a state of being of happiness, regardless of her circumstances, and her limitations in life. So stay tuned, because I think this episode is going to offer all of us a lot of perspective. Alright, Angie, welcome to the she finds joy Podcast. I'm super excited to interview you today. 

Angie Carlson 02:41 

A

Thank you for having me. 

Kim Strobel 02:42 

You are welcome. And I was telling everybody in the introduction that we went to high school together, and I still live in my little hometown, and you have gone on and experienced the world. And you've been to Japan and all of these places, you've had vast experiences in the 

world. And you've been to Japan and all of these places, you've had vast experiences in the military, which is just amazing that you have the courage at such a young age. I always think of that, like sometimes I'm like, I just, I just didn't have the courage. And here I am this many years later, still living the same small town when there's nothing wrong with that. But my husband and I do talk about moving closer to our nieces, nephews and grandkids and like that feels so scary. So the fact that like you did it and you did it at 18 always kind of amazes me. 

Angie Carlson 03:25 

A 

I know it was it was a spur of the moment thing too. I was like, I had long hair back then. And I recruiter said you don't have to cut it. And I said, Okay, I want to travel. So let me go. 

Kim Strobel 03:38 

Oh my gosh, well, I really I want to talk to you about your, your MS diagnosis and really help people understand what that looks like for you so that we can hear the backstory about how all of that developed and then what your current day life looks like. And then what I'm going to do is get into your brain and I love that I just heard your dog bark because we listen this I tell people I'm like we got dogs and the UPS guy comes and the mailman comes and we're just a real show here. What's his name? 

Angie Carlson 04:14 

A 

There's just trucks going past my house and he sees it doesn't like his name's rascal 

Kim Strobel 04:18 

rascal. Well, he is my rescue in the rescue. Okay, oh, tell me back to your diagnosis. Yes, 

Angie Carlson 04:27 

A

I was. I was pregnant. And something was kind of off. When I was pregnant. I my legs would give out I couldn't run with my squadron. When I was in the military. And I was just walking. I had like a drunk walk. My gait was off. So my six week checkup after I had my baby. I'm like, There's something still wrong. And they said, Well, we can give you an MRI and see what's 

going on up there. And I said, Okay. And they mentioned Ms. And I'm like, No, this is like an inner ear. or infection or something? You know, I'm just downplaying everything, and then 

Kim Strobel 05:07 

rascal. Okay. Okay, so I have to tell you all we had to hit the stop recording button because rascal Angie's dog. He's just out of control right now because of some truck that keeps going by and I just have to tell you that I just had an aha. I wish I would have caught this on video because I'm like, okay, and she like I, I'm the biggest dog lover, but he's been barking now for 

four minutes. We're gonna have to do something with him. I'm like, can you just go get him and close the curtain and Angie paused. And I was like, Oh my gosh, you can't you can't just stand up real quickly. And go close the curtain because of your MS. So I just want to tell our listeners, like, even I don't really understand. Watching you what what your life is like. So tell me okay, you were pregnant? You you had this baby. Your game was off. You're how old at this time? 

Angie Carlson 05:59 

A 

I was 30. I was almost 30. 

Kim Strobel 06:01 

You were almost 30. Okay, so then what happened? You went to the doctor 

Angie Carlson 06:06 

A 

went to the doctor, they did an MRI and they said, Yep, we've got lesions, lesions on your brain that are pointing positive to Ms. And still I wouldn't take that as a diagnosis. They said, Do you want a lumbar puncture? And I said, Yeah, because I don't have Ms. And I had a two month old 

baby in my lap, you know. And so I went and got a lumbar puncture. And they said, that's positive, too. And I'm like, what? We didn't know how to process it. I couldn't really get down because I had a baby. So I was like, and my husband, he's such a good, good. He's like my best support system. He says, You know what? We're gonna learn about this together. You have Ms. I haven't 

Kim Strobel 06:48 

missed. My gosh, that gives me goosebumps. Like you were in denial. Yeah. Yeah. It was in your brain was saying like, I cannot I have a baby. I'm a first time mommy. I cannot handle having to do this too. 

Angie Carlson 07:03 

A 

Right. Right. I didn't know what to think. And I'm like, what does that mean? And they said, you'll be in a wheelchair in 10 years. That's what they always say with every diagnosis. So I'm like, okay, so I just research research research. 

Kim Strobel 07:18 

Oh, damn, like your whole journey. 

Angie Carlson 07:20 

A

Yes. 

Kim Strobel 07:21 

And are you 48? Like me now? So we're, 

Angie Carlson 07:25 

A 

I'm almost in Juneau, we'll 

Kim Strobel 07:26 

be okay. All right. So we're like, you know, 18 years from that original diagnosis? Did your bodies is for lack of a better word begin to deteriorate quickly, or what did that look like, over the next several years? 

Angie Carlson 07:41 

A 

Not quickly. It was it was a little bit of a time. And it wasn't until probably 10 years ago, I walk with a walker, when we're out and about, I have a wheelchair that I sit in to go point A to point B, because I'm so slow. And, um, that's about it. But I'm still walking, I'm still up and I'm walking. It's just I have my right. My right hand is known. My my right leg is foot drop. I feel like I weigh 600 pounds. It's one of those one of those things. So it's just the normal progression of Ms. 

Kim Strobel 08:19 

So right now, if you were going to get up in go Close that curtain like i Yes, you know, ignorantly asked you to, um, what would that take? What would you literally, 

Angie Carlson 08:32 

A 

I'm getting up from the chair. I'm getting in my walker and I'm walking over the window. But it's so slow. I've I've lost like movements. It's very slowly, 

Kim Strobel 08:43 

like movements. And then do you feel really worn out when you do something simple like that? 

Angie Carlson 08:49 

A

Yes, simple. Things are like, whoa, I'm done. And I put my energy for if I have something else to 

Yes, simple. Things are like, whoa, I'm done. And I put my energy for if I have something else to do so. 

Kim Strobel 08:59 

And so if you needed to go to the grocery store, you would grab your walker make your way to your vehicle. Yes. Get in your vehicle. Would you use the wheelchair to go along in the grocery store? Or 

Angie Carlson 09:14 

A 

no, I? I used now I do grocery pickup. But I used to Yeah, I do. Because it's easier, but I used to just throw my walker in the backseat and then get out and go in. It's not a real quick. I'm gonna go in and grab this. It takes a while and then after that, I'm like, Okay, let's go take a nap. 

Kim Strobel 09:33 

And yes, do you are you fatigued on a daily basis? Yes. Yes. What causes that? That is that 

Angie Carlson 09:43 

A 

cannot. If I have something to do that day, I'm saving up my energy I'm, I take a nap every day. 20 minutes. That's all I need. But that 20 minutes is like a breath of fresh air. It's like I wake up I'm like okay, let's let's do something else. But before that I can feel of fatigue just coming into my eyes get heavy, my my limbs get heavy. I'm like, okay, maybe this is my body say, go take a nap nap right now. And so and you live? I do I it took me years to listen to that. 

Kim Strobel 10:15 

Yes, yes. Now, are all other bodily functions work for you? Yes. Okay. And so can you just describe then because you obviously have a disability now, you can't work, right? You are limited in your activity level. And I'm not gonna lie. Like as I was taking my run this morning, I was thinking about you. And I was thinking about how many times I get frustrated because I've gotten so much slower with age, or I remember taking a picture last year with like, sweat all over my face and posting it on Facebook and saying like, that was the worst run ever. Like, I'm just so. And I was like, Oh my gosh, you know, somebody like you not not that, you know, I don't like comparative suffering. When we say like, oh, you're never allowed to compare or complain about anything, because somebody always has it worse than you. That's nice. But also, I was like, when you see stuff like that, are you a little bit like, come on? I would love just to be able, if I could walk a mile, I would think life was wonderful. Do you have those thoughts? 

Angie Carlson 11:28 

A

All the time? And it's like, I tell her MS is the most frustrating disease. My brain is all like, oh, yeah, I can just get up real quick and go do something. But when I actually do it, it's not 

happening. Rascoe 

Kim Strobel 11:44 

so then, okay, then this is gonna bring me. I mean, we've painted a very good picture of what everyday life is kind of like for you. yet. I just see this. I mean, it's insane positivity that exudes from you. Amidst all your struggle. And Angie, I, honestly like I mean, I teach an entire 10 month course, sorry, I know that. So I have this 10 month program called the happy Academy. And it's basically it each month is a different lesson for not just teaching us how to increase our happiness and well being. But I mean, that is a piece of it, because I think that happiness is something that many of us feel lost in. And honestly, Angie, I know the research, and I know what the research says about, you know, our happiness research says that external circumstances, I can put all of your external circumstances together. And it still will only account for approximately 10% of a person's long term happiness. Hmm. Do you agree with that? 

Angie Carlson 13:15 

A 

Um, no. Well, okay, the external is only accounts for 10%. 

Kim Strobel 13:23 

Yeah, so we can take like, so basically, the happiness research says that 50% of long term happiness is genetic. So it's kind of how your brain is wired. Mm hmm. And then 10% is your external circumstances. So that means like, are you married, single, divorced or widowed? Do you have Ms? Do you not have Ms? Do you make 50,000 or 5 million? Do you need to lose weight? Or do you not need to lose weight and so the research is really strong. And it says, like, we can take all of these external circumstances, and we can put them all together. And they only account for 10% of a person's long term happiness because it's, it's how we choose to perceive those circumstances. And so like, for example, we might know 10 People like I, let's say we have 10 people with MS. Guaranteed, some are extremely negative, extremely unhappy. Their world has ended they've given up on life. And then there's you and and others, right. Yeah. So like, how do we explain that because I feel like I don't always understand the happiness research. But But I believe in it because I do see evidence of it. But I I feel like sometimes if I Oh, I am trying to because you You seem to fit that research. Okay. Because you have this really awful thing in your life. And you, you consider yourself a happy person, don't you? 

Angie Carlson 15:06 

A

I do. I do. And I have, I have seen people that take this disease, I've been to many functions, and they will just be like so depressed and don't smile. That's why I'm out and about. And you see me in a wheelchair or with my walker, my husband piggybacks me a lot, too. And they think we're playing around, everyone thinks we play around. And I'm like, No, this is how I get around. But I'd rather have to see somebody with a smile on their face, then to always be like, because it negative brings out the negative in other people, I think so I would much rather don't 

feel sorry for me, I'm happy, I have a happy life, I have a happy support group I have. It's like you have to deal with with it the way that you want to. I'm not gonna put negative energy out there because I don't want it back at me. 

Kim Strobel 16:03 

And so how do you consciously make that decision? And I'm reading a great book right now. And it was saying that it's not so and so it goes along with the happiness research, it says it's not circumstances that cause a person to be unhappy. It's their thoughts about their circumstances that cause them to be happy, unhappy. And then. So your thoughts about your MS. You don't deny that it's hard and that you wish you could do all of these things. But how do you? And I understand it, but I know there's people who are less? Well, I say I understand it, but honestly, Angie, I don't know if I could be happy. If I had in this, I feel like that's a really strong statement. Right? And that's where I fight with the research a little bit, because I'm like, I don't know, like, the research says, external circumstances are only 10%. And I get that, and I get that it's perspective, and I believe in it. But when I think about me having to deal with it, I'm like, how would I keep myself positive? How would I keep myself happy? And so I want to know, what is happening in your brain that is allowing you to do that. 

Angie Carlson 17:30 

A 

And that's, you know, a lot of people ask me that, and I think I've always been a positive, happy person. So maybe my brain is already wired like that. 

Kim Strobel 17:40 

And 70% genetic? Yes. And 

Angie Carlson 17:43 

A

so and people don't understand. Like, why I am still so happy. I just, I don't like the negative thoughts, because there are negative thoughts with everybody. I mean, that's, that's being human. So the negative thoughts when they come in, it makes it worse. It's like, okay, why am I? Why am I just, you know, doubting myself, when I look around me, I mean, I have so much to be thankful for. 

Kim Strobel 18:15 

So that's why so I love what you're saying, because what we teach, and we talk about this a lot in the happy Academy is that you do have control over your thoughts. And in that, what we mean is, we know that thoughts are running in the background all of the time, and they're on default. And so we're not always aware of them. And then every now and then we become aware of them, like you're saying, I'm aware of these negative thoughts. But then the power lies in the fact that we get to consciously choose the next thought we have. Yes. And so you're consciously going, Okay, I'm in awareness mode. I'm feeling sorry for myself. Things are 

upsetting me, I see other people doing all this thing with their life. That energy does not feel good to me. So I'm going to shift over here and go, I have the most amazing supportive husband, How lucky am I? I have this most handsome and vibrant, fun. I have this home where I'm safe and loved and full of beautiful things. I have this dog Rascoe who barks incessantly on my first podcast interview. Yes. And so what you're using is like one of the things that we do teach a lot, which is that idea of rewiring our brain and knowing that we do have more control than we think. Right? Right. I think you embody because the other thing I that's been hitting really hard for me lately is, you know, we want to do doo doo, right? So like, we're gonna go do this. And we're going to, we're going to do that and we're going to work really hard and we're going to buy the big home and we're going to marry the perfect person. We're gonna have to Point five kids, and we're gonna make a lot of money and we're gonna have a nice car. And we're going to do do do all of these things. So that then after we've accomplished that we can arrive at happiness, right. And there's nothing wrong with any of those things. But what this book is reminding me, not just happiness, but any state that we want to be is that it's starts with being, you have to have the being of happiness, and then you feel happy. And then you are in a state of happiness a lot of the time, but it's like this internal being state happiness does not come from all of these material objects. It comes from you creating it within yourself. And I feel like that is exactly what you choose to do on a daily basis. 

Angie Carlson 20:53 

A 

Yes, yes. I I feel like there is no other choice. I mean, that's the only choice I choose. Because I don't want to be unhappy. Why be unhappy when you have when obstacles come about? It's like, okay, this is going to ruin me. If I can have negativity all going through my brain, it's going to ruin me. So I don't want to be ruined. 

Kim Strobel 21:22 

So you I'm having so I knew I was going to have so many all hos Angie, it's so funny, because I'm sure you know, like you said at the beginning, you were kind of nervous to do this podcast interview with me. But it's one of those things like as a school teacher, I was teaching kids, but so much of the time, I actually felt that the kids were teaching me and I knew this podcast interview would be like this, I knew that you would think that I was like the captain of the ship over here. And I knew I knew you would be giving me just so many Aha. And so I will I'm reading Do you know who Jay Shetty is, 

Angie Carlson 21:58 

A

I do not. 

Kim Strobel 21:59 

He wrote this book called Think like a monk. And he actually spent time becoming a Buddhist monk, and then actually decided Monk, monk could wasn't for him. But he teaches a lot of the practices now. And last night I was reading in his book he was talking about, like the monkey mind. And that basically like our, our brains are like a tree with all of these branches. And what 

happens is we have all of these thoughts that are all of these branches. And then there's like this monkey, and the monkey just swings from from one branch to another, you know, it jumps over here that jumps over here, and then it jumps over here. And like we just let the monkey mind run amok, instead of being intentional about choosing our thoughts, and so he kind of says, like, many times, you know, we have these thoughts that are like fears and in negativity and stress. And we start focusing on those. And then he's like, now you're living in the jungle of the untrained mind, because you're, you're just allowing it by default to do whatever it wants, rather than trying to be an active participant in it. Okay, yeah, yeah. And so then he talks about this Cherokee story, and what you just said reminded me of this, and I don't know if you've heard it or not, but I'm going to read it to you. It says it's a Cherokee story about these dilemmas that we all agonize over. And he says, an elder tells his grandson, every choice in life is a battle between two wolves inside of us. One represents anger, envy, greed, fear, lies, insecurity, and ego. The other represents peace, love, compassion, kindness, humility, and positivity. And these are competing for supremacy in your brain. So then the grandson asked the elder, well, which wolf wins? If they're both competing in your brain, which wolf wins? And the elder says, the one you feed? 

Angie Carlson 24:20 

A 

Hmm, yes. I totally agree with that. 

Kim Strobel 24:24 

And then he said, and then and then Jay Shetty said, but how do we feed them? Right? Because he asked his teachers like, Well, how do we feed them? And the monk said, by what we read and hear by who we spend time with, by what we do with our time by where we focus our energy and attention. 

Angie Carlson 24:44 

A 

Yes, yeah. That's so powerful. It is very powerful. Because it's so true. So true. 

Kim Strobel 24:53 

Yeah. And so we each, we each get to control the ones that we choose to bead and to me, you are constantly making that choice, even within your adversity, even within your challenge. Yes. And I realize that everybody listening to this, they do not have Ms. But I guarantee you, every person listening has had some type of traumatic event in their life, it could be a big trauma like Ms. Or in justices that were done to them. abuse, physical, mental, emotional, or the little traumas, the little things that happen that actually do kind of wreak havoc on our life. And they deserve some space too. And so I, I think I felt like it was so important to share your story. Because to me, I just, I just feel like the way that you're choosing to consciously live your life is so representative of the ability to see things from a different perspective. 

Angie Carlson 26:07 

A

Angie Carlson 26:07 

A 

Yes, choice, it's just the power of choice and what you what you want, you can have anything you want with just that one little thinking process. Yeah, you know, such positivity, would you rather go negative? Would you rather go positive? Anybody would rather go positive? But it's so hard for some people to stay on that positive track? 

Kim Strobel 26:30 

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's one of the things that we teach, because like, we can say this all day long. And people who are listening to this podcast, they're really some of them are thinking, Gosh, I can consciously choose differently. But it's not enough just to listen to this podcast, like a big part of it. And we do this. In the happy Academy. It's like we got it literally rewire the brain. Because the brain has, I don't know if you know this or not, the brain has 70,000 thoughts a day on average? Oh, and if you're a human being, what we know is if you're an average human being 80% of those thoughts are negative in a day's time. So when most of us, most average folks put their head down on the pillow at night, we've had 56,000 Negative thoughts. How not, Angie? I'm not Kim Strobel, because I've had to rewire my brain. Yeah. But the weird thing is, is that of the 80% of thoughts that are negative? We know that 95% of the 80 are the exact same thoughts you had the day before. Hmm. Isn't that incredible? It is, 

Angie Carlson 27:46 

A 

it is. 

Kim Strobel 27:48 

So what we know is that it actually comes from ancient caveman cavewoman times is that the brain has this thing called the amygdala in it and the amygdala is number one job is to scan for danger in order to keep you safe. And so 1000s of years ago, if the brain wasn't on high alert, looking for negativity or threats, then you would lose your life. Oh, okay. No, oh, it's 2022. And we still have an amygdala. And its job is still to do that, even though most of us don't need it doing that 24/7, which means that we also know from the neuroscience that the brain is malleable. So if you have 1000s, and 1000s of roadways in your brain, you are going to automatically go down those negative roadways that are kind of more ingrained in your brain the next day even easier. Yes, the next day, even easier. This is why like negative people stay negative, right? A lot of the time until they learn that they can rewire their brain to positive, which is a lot of the work that we do, because we actually know we can change your neural pathways in your brain. 

Angie Carlson 29:03 

A

Right. And it's like feeding that that wolf, it's feed it more with positive thoughts. That's going to overcome it. So yes, yes, 

Kim Strobel 29:12 

it and so we can intentionally do that. So your brain is so wired that way? Yes, we're going to give you credit for the genetic piece. But I told you at the beginning of this interview, 50% of long term happiness is genetic. 10% is external circumstances, which I guess you would now agree with that, wouldn't you? Yes, yes. Yeah. And then 40% of the pie is left in what we know is that everybody can increase their happiness levels, regardless of their genetics or their circumstances, up to 40%. By their actions, thoughts and behaviors. Yes. So you've got the genetic piece going on, but you also inherently work on the 40% of actions, thoughts and behaviors. 

Angie Carlson 29:54 

A 

Right and I it's not something I don't think it came to me. I mean, There's everybody has to downtimes. But then I realized, when you think negative, it makes you feel bad. So I don't want to feel bad. So I choose not to go that negative route. Yes, 

Kim Strobel 30:14 

yeah. Yeah. Because our, there's another thing that we teach, which is like your thoughts, they, they actually become your belief systems. And so like, because your thoughts create feelings, right. So if you have a negative thought, or disappointed thought or critical thought, then that causes a feeling of shame, or hopelessness or despair, depression or anger or whatever. And then those feelings, create your beliefs about everything in your world, right? And then those beliefs drive the actions that you take. So okay, I'm just going to feel sorry for myself, and I'm gonna lay over here on the couch for the rest of the day, or I'm going to spend time doing things I I still can do and focus in on that. And then that drives the kind of success and fulfillment that a person feels in their life. Right? Well, it all starts with thoughts. 

Angie Carlson 31:18 

A

Yeah, yeah, I my husband plays a lot of games. He's one of those jokesters and sometimes he takes on different personalities, whatever he's watching, and he's just watching Yellowstone, they turn into a cowboy. I know he's weird. He was in a very bad negative mood for one of these characters and something he was watching. And he did it for like, 30 minutes. And he sits in the chair. And he's like, I just made myself in a bad mood just by doing that. And I said, see what those negative thoughts duty? You got it? Yeah. 

Kim Strobel 31:53 

And you know, in and I want to make sure that we're letting people know that we understand that you're still gonna have like, I have negative thoughts the other day, I just, and I've gotten better at naming it. Like I just told Scott on Sunday. I'm like, Look, I don't know why. I'm just really grumpy today. And like, and guess what happened. And she like, every, so because I was feeling that way. I was attracting, like, other bad things in my life. Like, that's why they say, Oh, she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Because like, when you start thinking that way, and feeling that way, you start attracting and I can't remember, like, it was like a, it was just like a bunch of superficial stuff. Like I then I took a run with the dogs. And Sophie was like, acting 

crazy. Like she didn't want to run even though she did want to run. So then I pulled her for five miles, and I came home from my run, and I was frustrated. And then one of my favorite movies ended up like the TV wasn't working. And so I couldn't watch that. And then that night, we went to the movies, and we watched the last city and it was like the worst movie ever. And I mean, I 

could like laugh at myself. But I was like, Oh my gosh, I contributed to this like negative. It happens. It does. So then I allowed myself just to have the grumpy day. Because we do have to allow those feelings. I always tell people, it's not about stopping all the pause or the toxic negative noise. I like to call them negative feelings is that really, they're just heavy, heavy, you feel like you're allowed to have them. But I told Scott, I was like, Okay, I'm going to get my sage out. And I'm going to light it and I'm going to like sage myself, I'm going to get back to my meditation, like I got to recalibrate because it's Monday, and I'm not going to have another day 

Angie Carlson 33:33 

A 

like that. Right? There you go. And see, you know what to do. You know, it was how it was making you so you know how to make it better? Yeah, that's what we all want to do is make things better. Yeah. 

Kim Strobel 33:46 

So as we close this up, is there like any other advice or things that you might share? Or have we covered it all? 

Angie Carlson 34:00 

A 

And that's, that's one thing. Because my my doctor has had given people my phone number because I am a very positive person, and for them to reach out to me and it's hard for me to say, hey, just let it roll off your shoulders or, you know, because some people aren't like that. 

And I just tried to give them my two cents and say, You know what, you've only got one life you want to make it a good one. Yeah, let's let's be positive. Let's try your hardest. I mean, there are bad days and you can sit down and cry all day. But pick yourself up the next day it'll be so much better. 

Kim Strobel 34:38 

Yeah. And something you just said there also reminded me and then it just went right out my door. There's so many all hos Oh, like I some of them probably need some time for those seeds that you're planting in them to kind of take shape because I'm sure But but that's like a wonderful service to when you can help people begin to shift their perspectives maybe. And then, you know, again, I'm always reading like this book, this book that book says, I read today like, can we just stop and be thankful that we got to take another breath today? 

Angie Carlson 35:21 

A

Right? Yes. Or that you get to wake up and see the sun shining if the sun is shining? 

Kim Strobel 35:27 

Yeah. Because even though this is hard, and even though you might wish life was different, you you have this wonderful son in your life? What What an honor for you to be able to be alive and be able to watch him and be a part of his life? You know, it's like, I just think it's sometimes it does help us to focus on the things that we don't always do that we take things for granted. And so oh my gosh, Angie, thank you so much for just being willing to share your story with my audience today. I love how real and honest it was. I do too. And you do it. It wasn't that bad. You did it. You did it. Thank you so much. Thank you